I learned so much on my knitting journey this year. I made lots of new friends, began test knitting, and even released my own designs. I can only hope for continued luck and success in 2014. Now, let's relive some of finer moments of 2013...

As most of you know, I love Instagram. A lot. I post most of my FOs there as well as snippets from my everyday life. These were my top moments this year.

Or maybe you remember when I was featured on the Ravelry homepage (this one still blows my mind)? I knit my daughter and I matching tops - hers is Goldilocks and mine is Alice in Wonderland, which somehow got the attention of Christina and ended up being featured for the Matching Families Community Eye Candy.

I know it's been a long time since I last blogged - I'm sorry. Our Fall schedule has been a lot busier than I anticipated. But, I'm back with a bit of exciting news. Grace and I are featured on the Ravelry homepage today as a part of their Community Eye Candy series. This week is featuring matching families.

A big thank you to all of you for playing along with this week's pattern giveaway! The winner is Jesse! Jesse chose Pendulum by Amy Miller and I can't wait to see the color combination she comes up with!

Don't worry if you didn't win, this week's giveaway is another pattern giveaway! Just leave a comment below telling me when you learned to knit.  I absolutely love learning about why people fall in love with knitting! So, feel free to elaborate on the why or how if you want. As always, you can earn extra entries if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram.

Good luck and happy knitting!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

On June 22nd, I'll celebrate a year of blogging here on knitwisepurlwise.com!

I originally started this blog just to chronicle the things I knit. I wanted to have a place to talk about the successes, things I've learned, trials, and tribulations of any given knitting project. I didn't really expect anyone besides my mom (hi Mom!) to read it. So imagine my surprise when you all started leaving me such thoughtful, lovely comments - encouragement when I had a rough time with a pattern, help choosing yarn, celebrating a great finished object. You all have been fantastic! I am so honored to have such wonderful readers.

To celebrate my anniversary, I want to celebrate you, my readers! Without you all, knitwisepurlwise.com wouldn't be nearly as meaningful to me. So, I'm giving away 4 patterns - one a week for the month of June to you guys. Each Friday (the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th) I'm going to pick a winner via Rafflecopter, and that winner will get the first pattern in their queue on Ravelry. So go double check your queue - make sure your number one spot is something that you really want and that you have a single, paid pattern listed first!

To enter, just leave a comment on this post telling me how you read the blog. As usual, you have to be a follower of my blog (either via RSS, Bloglovin', Feedly, etc). You can earn extra entries too - see the widget below for more chances to win. Good luck!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

On Wednesday, I posted Part 1 of my needle quest. If you didn't read that - long story short, I had KnitPicks needles, but was looking to replace them. I'm picky and it took a long time. I know the suspense is killing you, so I'll just get it over with. It was after weeks of research that I finally decided on the ChiaoGoo Twist set.

While I was at my LYS test driving needles, they recommended the ChiaoGoo (chow-goo) Twist needles, but I quickly dismissed them because "I don't like metal needles" (famous last words). I didn't love anything I tried that day (all bamboo), so I kept looking. All of my research led me back to the ChiaoGoo Twist, so I ordered a set of tips and a cable on eBay. I knit with them for all of 5 minutes before I fell completely in love. I may have even let out an excited squeal. Maybe.

They're stainless steel, so they're not as slippery as aluminum needles, but more slippery than bamboo. The tips are super pointy (but not enough to hurt you when you knit), the cables are fantastic, and the join is a dream. I don't think I could have dreamt up better needles. Honestly. (And no they're not paying me for this. Heck ChiaoGoo has no idea who I am).


The ChiaoGoo set has a couple of extra "features" that I wasn't looking for, but are awesome to have. For one, the needles are imprinted with the size. They also come with an awesome labeled case, with room to grow (you can see my extra set of 4" size 6 tips in the picture below), a ruler, connectors, keys, cable caps, and a chart showing the different sizes available. You can also buy the Spin cables to use with the Twist set, since both ChiaoGoo needle sets are completely interchangeable. The Spin cables, well, spin. I love that. There have been a few times where I find myself getting caught up on my cable because it's so twisted. Well, no more. I ordered my most used sizes in the Spin cables too.


I ordered the complete RED Lace set from handsomefibers.com. I cannot recommend Katie highly enough - I placed my order at 5:15 (Eastern) on Friday, it shipped by 5:45 and I received it Monday at 1:30. I may or may not have been sitting by the window waiting for the mail man. Katie also offers a discount to returning customers, so I was able to save 10% on my order. (She's not paying me either, promise).

All in all, I'm still shocked that I picked metal needles. They meet all of my requirements, but I'm still getting used to the noise of knitting with metal needles.

Again, I'm not getting paid or perked for any of this. I just wanted to share my love of the ChiaoGoo needles (and Katie's awesome service).

I'm sitting here sipping my third cup of coffee for today and watching the snow swirl outside. The wind is absolutely howling and it is downright miserable out there. I'm usually cold, and haven't been feeling well for the last few days, so I'm especially cold. It's the kind of cold you just can't shake - the kind that lingers in your bones. So, as I sit here drinking my coffee, trying to warm up - it dawns on me that I'm lucky I knit. I'm wearing a ridiculous amount of hand-knits right now and without them I would definitely not be as warm (nor as comfortable). I'm aware that I don't match and I'm probably committing several other fashion faux paus, but I don't care. From head to toes: a hat, a Honey Cowl, my Calligraphy Cardigan, fingerless mitts, and socks. I'd probably wear a pair of knit pants right now if I had them. So not only are my knits warm and comfortable, but they're pretty, and each garment has a story. I couldn't be happier, even if I am miserably cold.